Imagine: a world where human technology is blended harmoniously with the natural world. Imagine, a world where, rather than dominating and controlling nature, we work with it, learn from it, then apply our insights to co-create with it. Together we craft living spaces that amplify our most joyful modes of living. Imagine, living spaces as healthy and beautiful as a forest where everybody (in the multi-species sense) wins. Indeed, the very concept ‘wins’ has become meaningless because we’re all in it together, self-supporting the collective Thrive.
The other day, I watched a Hollywood sci-fi movie. It could have been almost any sci-fi movie set in the near future– it seems these days that the settings are pretty much the same: An industrial and technologically grey future. This sci-fi movie wasn’t post-apocalyptic (as the other half are), but it was just as bleak as if it were. Robots, androids and fancy cyber technology had led to the merging of mankind and machines. The rich enjoyed vast technological power and the poor, machine-like automatons, survived on the dregs.
This movie was particularly austere. I took it upon myself to count the trees and plants in the film. I managed with the fingers of one hand. Interestingly, the only living tree in the movie, a bonsai (i.e. nature dominated and controlled) belonged to one of the rich, bad guys.
The amount of human energy that goes into these movies is not only cinematically creative, but also real-world creative. When we (in the humanity sense of the word) put our creative energy into these movies, we are setting a course to the future. Alas, same with watching movies like this. Our imagination (or perhaps lack of it) is literally pulling these realities into our world.
Movies like this are a good reminder: if we don’t want to be living in 10 years in a bleak grey future like that, then we better get imagining differently!
But, I think, it can’t be on our own– that just leads down the grey path, towards a world with no-trees. We have to start within the green world. We have to begin the imagining together with the plants and our fellow species.
One of my mentors, Robert Muller, the long-time UN under-secretary, in one of our talks, once suggested to me “Every corporate board meeting should, by law, be held within sight of trees and nature.” This always stuck with me. His reasoning was that it would help re-mind our leaders of where everything comes from– and where it ends up. Most importantly, our place in it.
I have a green space outside our house. The garden!
What better place to start imagining a green and vibrant future than with the plants around me.
I’ll start by planting some trees.
